SARANAC LAKE — St. Bernard’s School students showcased their spelling prowess during the annual Catholic Schools Week Spelling Bee in January. The event brought together students from kindergarten through 5th grade to compete for top honors.

Students prepared for the competition throughout the month, practicing both independently at home and through the Spelling Bee Club, which met weekly to hone their skills. The competition featured grade-level differentiated word lists and took six rounds to crown a champion.

This year’s grand prize Winner was 5th grader Elliott McCormick, who secured victory with the winning word, “reference.” Elliott also spelled the following words correctly: cereal, fragrant, castle, dolphin and magnolia.

The competition also saw impressive performances from younger students. Tied for second place were first grader Boden Kelly and second grader Eden Ellsworth. Boden correctly spelled the following words: puppy, happy, yellow, bunny and tiger. Eden correctly spelled the following words: hair, lamp, great, glue and edge.

Grade-level winners included:

Kindergarten: Omega Bickford

1st Grade: Boden Kelly

2nd Grade: Eden Ellsworth

3rd Grade: Luke Rozon

4th Grade: Dax Dougherty

5th Grade: Elliott McCormick

Twenty-seven students competed this year and were cheered on by the whole school, many family members, and St. Bernard’s pastor, Rev. Martin Cline, who served as the judge.